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Newscasts

PNS Daily Newscast - January 21, 2019

Could the nation’s airports be the next pressure points in the government shutdown? Also on our Monday rundown: Calls go out to improve food safety; and a new report renews calls for solutions to Detroit’s water woes.

Veterans: Don't Ignore 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'

May 11, 2010

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Gay and Lesbian ex-service members from Missouri and across the country say there's a renewed sense of urgency in the fight to repeal 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell', the policy which prevents openly-gay Americans from serving in the armed forces. That's the word from supporters of repeal like Dr. Beth Schissel, a pediatrician in Kansas City, who was forced out of the Air Force after she acknowledged she was gay. She says it's time for troops to stop serving in silence in order to serve their country.

"You know, if there needs to be some compromise to the timing of policies and deployment of the steps, fine; but the actual repeal needs to happen now."

Last week, the grandson of President Harry Truman wrote a letter to President Barack Obama comparing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" to the racial desegregation of the military, which Truman ordered more than 60 years ago.

Schissel says "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is a similar form of bigotry.

"You can look at this as a civil rights issue. You can look at this as a human rights issue. You can look at this as a jobs issue."

Schissel says the military forces of 25 countries, including Israel, Canada, and Great Britain, have lifted their own bans on gay troops without any difficulty.

The Pentagon has said it does not want the policy to change before it has a chance to more closely study the issue.

Lawmakers in the House and Senate are expected to propose a moratorium on gay firings in the military in the defense bill that will be written up this month, though it is not certain that the proposal will make it into the final version of the measure this year.